Thoughts, Raves & Outright Beatings

1. Heart @ The Grand Sierra Resort

Two of my best buddies in this area and I got together for a glass at the Reserve wine bar last night (I’ll post a little rant at some point about how UNCOOL it is to expect to pay a gratuity when you are purchasing a glass of wine from a VENDING MACHINE!!! I’m serious as a heart attack, peeps!  My buds were a little miffed about that as well), then went to see Ann, Nancy, and some hired guns rock the house at the Grand Theatre.  

Stuff to note:

1. One of the few things my big bro and I had in common back in the mid-70’s was that we were both serious Heart fans.  I was a little too young to experience Day on the Green when Heart was playing, but it was just nice to hear the show concentrating on stuff from THAT era, and not the glammed-up, pseudo hair band they had been forced to turn into in the mid-80’s.   Yeah, I know, record company politics, and all that.  But, ladies, you’re Heart! Not Poison!
2. Ann is in her mid-50’s, and even though she can’t hold the notes as long as she could when she was younger, she can STILL FUCKING HIT THEM!! And, as back in the day, when she hits them, the world becomes golden.
3. Nancy still looks good.  And she can still play.  But one senses that she’d rather play, than sing.  I can’t blame her for being sick and tired of “These Dreams”, but girl friend phoned it in last night.  Kinda disappointing, but understandable.
4. The buds and I discussed the use of the mandolin in the live version of the aforementioned tune.  I thought it was a nice change from that awful synth flute on the recorded version.  One of the other buds disagreed, saying it didn’t work for her.
5. Ann has a new cd coming out next week.  The first song she played from it…meh.  The cover of “Immigrant Song” she did during the encore…SWEET!!!
6. In fact, these girls really, really like doing covers, perhaps even more so than playing their own songs.  In fact, the Tom Petty tune Nancy sung kicked it, and the Who cover was absolutely epic.   But, the two Led Zep tunes they did - “Immigrant Song” and “Black Dog” -  went beyond nailing it last night for me.  All I can tell Robert, Jimmy and John Paul is that them hoes can just sit down about their upcoming reunion show, because Ann, Nancy and their crew can do all their songs AND swig their whiskey for them, these days.
7. We ended up sharing a booth with a guy who drove down from Portland, OR just to see the band.  He was nice enough.  He took a lot of cam pics.   I’m pretty sure he got his money’s worth.
8. We got kinda snarky leaving the theatre - it’s just kinda funny seeing how much older everyone else was than us, BAHAHAHAHA!

Sure, it was probably just another gig for the girls and their gang, but it was watching greatness aging gracefully for me.

2.  Duran Duran’s new tune

Once upon a time, when I was in high school, Duran Duran were considered a punk rock band by my peers.   This was because they dressed funny, used synths, and noone had heard of them unless they were avid listeners of the late night college free-form, and ”new wave” radio shows on KCHO, which was why I personally tended to look stoned coming into class in the mornings.  As a result, as with everything else I listened to at the time (early Echo and the Bunnymen, Orchestral Manoevers in the Dark, early Cure, early Siouxsie, Black Flag, the Slits, The Buzzcocks, VERY early UB40, Stiff Little Fingers, et. al.), I was beaten up a lot for championing their cause.

Then MTV came to town, “Rio” came out, and everything changed.   In fact, noone gave me a bad time about getting my hair cut to appropriate John Taylor’s frosted ducktail mullet back in ‘83 (don’t you EVEN think about asking me to scan and post a pic of that thang! Yuck!).   

Anyway, fast forward to September 8, 2007, and “A Hot Mess” leaks their new “joint” joint venture with Timbaland and Timberlake:

As with Heart back in the mid-80’s, these guys needed to update their sound and, of course, sell more records.  So, my take on how they did?

1.  Simon LeBon was, frankly, never the best singer (I even copped to this back in the day) and was a cringingly embarrassing lyricist (”I sold the Renoir and the TV set” - PULEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE!).  But Mr. Man sounds dead sexy here.  This guy is emanating so much hotness vocally, he’s making my Winamp melt.  Talk about bringing sexy back! Yasmin back home must be smiling and proud.

2. Timbaland needs to stay off his artists’ productions.  The bridge is kinda-meh.  That said, once again, the 80’s return, sexy-stylin’.

3. Is it just me, or is it just Simon, Timbaland, Timberlake and some fruity loops software (I’m in no position to knock it, but, you know, there are three other band members, y’ know).  The beat is quite “technotronic”.

4.  I don’t know about all of you, but I’m kinda glad Andy Taylor was booted out of left the band.  I read their Rolling Stone interview from a few years ago, and he sounded like a whiny little pussy throughout.  He’s definitely not missed here, and I never did hear his guitar contributions on the early DD tunes, anyway.

5. This is, frankly, the best thing they’ve put out since “Ordinary World”, and maybe even since “Notorious”. Expect radio to be all over this.  Nouveau faux-80’s acts such as The Killers and Calvin Harris are quaking in their boots.

3.  And Speaking of the ’80’s…

Once upon a time (there’s that opening again), synth-pop and R&B did go hand in hand. 

Like this:

and especially this:

So this Mashup brought back some serious memories - although I’m sure it wasn’t meant to.

If ya likes, here’s where you can download.

OH, and, btw, nasty girls were very much acceptable in the ’80’s.

Don’t believe me?  Check it:

and…finally…

4. He was a good guy…

Luciano Pavarotti was someone my folks identified with, more than myself.  But one cannot deny the power and passion he continued to have, even as his body was being wracked with cancer:

Unlike other occasionally pop-blogging divas, I cannot pretend to not know any of his music.  He was a reference point when I studied voice for a while, and as I mentioned previously, my parents were absolutely fanatical about him, getting their hands on anything they could get their hands on by him.

Of course, the Three Tenors was the ultimate:

But most of us rock kids will remember him for his work with U2:

As with Johnny Cash, there was never a part of my life that this guy wasn’t in.  So, as with many others posting about him, there’s a hole in my heart as I say goodbye.

RIP…